Visit to El Roble Immigrants’ Centre in Seville

[Province of Spain – South] On February 20, a group of elderly residents of La Milagrosa de Alcalá de Guadaira went to visit the El Roble Emigrants Centre in Seville to learn about one of the works of the Vincentian charism that the Daughters of Charity attend. The experience has been impressive for both the residents and the staff that accompanied them; one of the residents shares her experience:

Today has been a great day for the Residence, as a group of us have visited a Refugee Centre for men and women in Miraflores. At our arrival, they welcomed us with great joy, they showed us the facilities: bedrooms, toilets, kitchen, living room with TV, etc.

We met in the sitting room. They were all young people; the men spoke first. A girl, who works there and is an immigrant, translated for those who did not yet know the language.

Everyone was grateful for the welcome of the staff of the House. They had to cross Algeria, Morocco, jump the fence to reach Spain by Malaga or Cádiz, with the hardships that this entails.

Women are less in number; they have suffered from “trafficking in women”; two of them with daughters, one of six months old and another three months old, who have been born here.

I was sad to see the sadness reflected their faces but, even so, some of them dared to dance for us and some of our colleagues joined with them. We told them what we felt. I said that I was in a home just like them, but later I realized that it is not the same. We can be here all our lives but they can be here for only six months.

Then they served us breakfast with sweets, baked by them, typical of their land, juices, coffee, and milk.

We visited the bookbindery and other workshops. We said goodbye, inviting them to come and visit us in our home.